Isaiah Washington, African-American actor, partnered with Missing24 in order to organize a national boycott among blacks in America. The boycott called for no work, school, or spending (at non-black owned businesses) in order to protest against police brutality. The significance of #Missing24 is to show America the power of the black collective. 
We are already aware of our buying power of over $1 trillion and our significance within America’s workforce, infiltrating every field of employment. This means that if we refuse to work and commit to moving our money, bodies and our power back into our community then America must notice because we are their doctors, cashiers, mechanics, lawyers, manufacturers, engineers, chemists, accountants, designers, psychologists, translators, models, secretaries, singers, actors, real estate agents, entertainers, scientists, receptionists, athletes and the list goes on forever. What industry wouldn’t be affected by the loss of our labor? In addition to this, Black women have claimed the spot as the most educated group this year, receiving the most degrees in higher education. These are all reasons to participate in Isaiah Washington’s call to Black America for a national boycott, because our influence can be felt nationwide if we make decisions as a collective.
This was our third call for a shut down with Missing24. Did you know? If not then you’re probably paying too much attention to mainstream media, which refuses to air our news. If you are a person of color with the intention of participating in these and other similar calls to action, turn of your television and hop onto the internet because that is the way that you will find your news. Use hashtags to find the most recent up to date information, like pages that circulate topics trending within our community and join groups that hold discussions focused around the movement. I didn’t hear Washington’s call to action on FOX or CNN, I saw it on Twitter and Facebook and then I called my friends and family to spread the news. All of which responded with similar tones: 
“I wish I would’ve heard about it sooner”
“If I miss work tomorrow I may lose my job”
“If I miss school tomorrow I’ll lose points for attendance”
“I have bills to pay” ….
I called my father the night before Sept 26th about the movement and he had a lot of excuses. He doesn’t have any active social media accounts but he watches cable television and browse online occasionally. After telling him about the boycott I told him to look it up and that I’d call him tomorrow.
September 26th I called my father to ask him if he was home, “No” he responded. “Where are you?” I asked in shock. After telling me that he was at work my heart dropped. My father, like many other black people, will go to work put in his 8 hours and then come home tired and complaining about the oppressive conditions for blacks in America. On the phone I told my father how hypocritical his actions were, I told him that the call for change will never be convenient and I called him out. I urge each of you sitting at home today to call out your mother, father, cousin, baby-mama, baby-daddy, boyfriend, girlfriend, homies and homegirls who chose to ignore our call. We NEED to hold each other accountable. So to everyone who went to work, school or span at non-black owned businesses today know that I love and care for you, but I love and care for the movement and our community more and therefore cannot accept your excuses. Why aren’t we all angry enough to take a stand? I know I am enraged! Isaiah Washington is enraged! Does someone close to you have to die in order to for us to take a stand? If so, there won’t be enough soldiers left on the battlefield, we must act now!
After our conversation my father promised to participate in our next call to action.
We can never expect the world to take us seriously if we refuse to take ourselves and our objectives seriously. We have been trying to raise a national and worldwide outcry for the value of black life through protests as a part of the Black Lives Matter movement, yet we make excuses when it comes to taking action, especially when it’s inconvenient or affects our money.
It’s time to shut it down.
Washington calls out to not only Blacks to participate but also Mexicans and other human rights activists. He points out the action that has been taken for animals, like the gorilla who was shot and killed, and yet there is a lack of action taken in order to make changes for black people who are shot and killed at the hands of police every day, sometimes multiple times a day. Washington qualifies this trend in the United States’ genocide and a form of ethnic cleansing.
We, as a black collective must choose to respect our agenda, our objectives and our LIVES!!!
Isaiah is a famous actor, worth millions of dollars, he put his career on the line to shine a light on our national outcry and some of us are completely disregarding this courageous act and disrespecting not only him but also those who did participate, by invalidating the actions they’ve taken.
If you identify yourself as a part of the black collective then listen and respond appropriately when we are called to act. Today we were called to act and a lot of us missed the mark. This is why we must hold each other accountable and call each other out when we aren’t acting responsibly. We are under attack, read more about the strategies of what supremacist culture’s war on Blacks and all people of Color in Cress-Wesling’s The ISIS Papers. Because we are under attack, we are in the middle of a war, therefore we must thin and act like soldiers if we want to win this war.
Listen to Washington’s Interview by Madelon McCullough below
https://soundcloud.com/diprimaradio/front-page-9-22-16-madelon-isaiah
